The blooming flowers and sunshine signaling that spring has arrived came with an unwelcome guest: the flu virus.
Flu season in Clark County arrived later this year, and flu activity has continued to increase since the virus first arrived after the New Year. But health officials say illness numbers should begin to decline soon.
“The past three years, (flu season) peaked in December or January,” said Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County health officer and public health director. “This year, it’s probably peaking around now.”
For the week ending March 26 — the most recent, complete week of data — nearly 38 percent of laboratory tests for influenza in Clark County came back positive. Health officials consider flu transmission to be occurring in a community when more than 10 percent of tests come back positive — a mark Clark County surpassed in late January.
In the past three years, flu transmission began to increase in late November or early December and peaked in late-December to mid-January. But over the last 34 years, most local flu seasons peaked in February, Melnick said.
“The last three years have been a little early,” Melnick said. “But it’s not uncommon to peak earlier or later. What we’re having here is not unusual.”
The flu typically circulates in a community for about 12 weeks, which is why Melnick suspects this year’s flu rates will begin to decline soon. But peaking flu activity doesn’t mean people won’t get sick into late spring.
“If people haven’t had the flu shot, they can still get the flu shot,” Melnick said. “We will probably still see cases in May and June.”
The flu shot provides protection against three or four strains of the virus, depending on the type of vaccine.
This year’s vaccine is proving to be much more effective than the 2014-15 flu vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that this year’s flu vaccine is about 59 percent effective. Last year’s vaccine was only about 19 percent effective.
Flu symptoms typically include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headaches, body aches, chills and fatigue. Young children, pregnant women, people 65 and older, and people with asthma, diabetes, heart disease and other long-term conditions are at greatest risk of complications from the flu.
So far this flu season, more than 300 county residents have tested positive for influenza. The flu isn’t a notifiable condition, and not everyone who is sick seeks medical care, so those numbers represent only a fraction of the people sickened.
Clark County has also recorded one influenza-associated death this year: a female in her 50s with several other chronic health issues, Melnick said. Clark County typically has two or three influenza-related deaths each year, he said.
